Elias j



E. J. HALE.

Lam p.

Patented June 12, 1860.

J7 eaaes UNITED. STATES i PATENT oFEroE:

ELIAS J. HALE, OF FOXGROFT, MAINE;

LAMB.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28Z,666,-dated 'Ju'ne' 12, 1860.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, ELIAS J. IIALE, of Foxcroft, in the county of Piscataquis and State of Maine, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lamps for Burning Hydrocarbon Fluids; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a lamp cap provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal and vertical section, while Fig. 3 is a top view of it. Fig. 4 is a side View of the rack plate.

The nature of my invention consists in the arrangement and application of a stationary spring catch or wick retainer relatively to the lamp cap and the wick tube made adjustable vertically by means essentially as hereinafter described; also, in the combination of a rack or punctured plate with the wick tube, and the stationary spring catch or wick retainer applied to the lamp cap and to operate within the movable wick tube as specified.

In the drawings, A, exhibits the main body of a lamp cap. or that part which is screwed to the upper part of the oil reservoir of a lamp. Through this cap, a flat wick tube, B, extends, and is applied to the cap, so as to be capable of sliding or being moved longitudinally therein, and by means of a cranked shaft, a, provided with a milled head, I), and having a connecting rod or pitman, 0, extending down from the wrist or crank d. The lower end of such pitman, a, is hinged to the side of the wick tube. The opposite side of the wick tube is perforated with a long slot, e, into which the bent upper part of a wire spring catch or wick retainer, G, extends, such retainer being not only arranged with reference to the wick tube and the lamp cap, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, but having its lower part bent or curved and fastened to the said cap. The upper end of the spring catch, C, may abut directly against or be made to pierce the wick, f, in which case it will generally hold the wick stationary, while the wick tube is being moved either upward or downward. As however, it is liable to slip on the wick, I prefer to employ within the wick tube a rack plate, g, a side view of which is shown in Fig. 7. The inner side of such plate should be furnished with spring (as which should be of a size to receive the upper end of the catch, 0. The spring retainer, C, when withdrawn from the wick or rack plate enables the wick to be either raised or depressed in the wick tube and when allowed to spring back into the Wick or into the rack plate, it will hold the wick at the desired elevation.

It should be borne in mind, that by revolving the shaft, a, the wick tube only will be movable, the wick at all times during such movement being stationary. No devices, such as a second rack and pinion or equivalent, are combined with the wick, the wick tube and the shaft, a, by which the wick is put in movement with a diflerent degree of velocity with respect to the wick tube while the latter is being moved. The only method by which the height of the wick may be varied consists in withdrawing the spring catch from the rack plate and raising both wick and wick tube together. After the wick may have been sufliciently elevated, the spring catch, C, may be supposed to fly back into the wick or the rack plate thereof so as to hold the wick stationary during a further movement of the wick tube. The advantage of my invention is, that by it, when the wick has once been adjusted to its proper height relatively to the opening in the top of the solid cap (generally used around the wick tube) so as to support combustion to the best effect, we are able to so adjust the wick tube as to increase or diminish the flame or the altitude thereof and of course, the amount of light given by the same.

I do not claim making a wick adjustable with respect to a solar cap or deflector; nor do I herein claim an improved lamp having its Wick tube made adjustable with respect to its solar cap, or the cap adjustable with respect to the wick tube, as explained in Letters Patent of the United States numbered 20,641, and granted to me on the twenty-second day of June, A. D. 1858; nor do I herein claim combining with both wick and wick tube, separate racks and pinions (or equivalent devices) carried by .tWo separate shafts, whereby either the wick tube, B, made adjustable vertically by means substantially as described.

2. The combination of the rack plate, 9, with the adjustable Wick tube, B, and the spring catch, 0, the same being for the purpose as specified.

ELIAS J. HALE.

lVitnesses:

MELLIN Gr. PRENTIss, AUGUSTUS M. HALE. 

